Inverting and reversing conveyor

ABSTRACT

In a production line where strips of material are traveling in the same direction at two different levels, a packaging station is provided which has a common packing area for the strips of material on both levels. The strips of material on the lower level are conveyed directly into the packing station. The strips of material on the upper level are conveyed past the packing station. Once past the packing station, the strips of material on the upper level are gripped between a drum and hugger belt and are guided through an arcuate or semi-circular path which both reverses the direction of travel of the strips and inverts the strips. After their reversal and inversion the strips are introduced into the packing station at a common level with the strips introduced into the packing station from the lower level.

United States Patent 1191 Drella et al.

[ May 7,1974

[ INVERTING AND REVERSING CONVEYOR [73] Assignee: Johns-Manville Corporation,

Greenwood Village, C010.

22 Filed: Feb. 27, 1973 211 Appl.No,:336,282

9/1965 Anderberg et al 242/551 Primary Examiner-Travis S. McGehee Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert M. Krone; John D.

Lister [57] ABSTRACT In a production line where strips of material are traveling in the same direction at two different levels, a packaging station is provided which has a common packing area for the strips of material on both levels. The strips of material on the lower level are conveyed directly into the packing station. The strips of material on the upper level are conveyed past the packing station. Once past the packing station, the strips of material on the upper level are gripped between a drum and hugger belt and are guided through an arcuate or semi-circular path which both reverses the direction of travel of the strips and inverts the strips. After their reversal and inversion the strips are introduced into the packing station at a common level with the strips introduced into the packing station from the lower level.

2 Claims,- 2 Drawing Figures 1 INVERTING AND REVERSING CONVEYOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for inverting and reversing the direction of travel of a product on an upper level of a two level production line to enable a common packing area to serve both levels.

In some glass fiber operations the thicknesses of the blankets of insulating material produced are such that each of the blankets can be divided into two blankets of lesser thickness. As a result, the production line is split and the blankets of insulating material are conveyed toward a packing station on an upper and a lower level. Since the division of the blankets produces major surfaces which are better in appearance than the upper and lower major surfaces of the original blankets vapor barrier sheets for the insulating material are adhered to the major surfaces of the newly formed blankets that correspond to the upper and lower major surface of the original blankets.

In order to provide the maximum utilization of space and operating personnel for such an operation, it is an object of the present invention to both invert and reverse the direction of travel of the insulating blankets on the upper level so that a common packing area can be used for both the lower and upper levels. In addition, the reversal of the direction of travel of the blankets on the upper level together with the inversion of the blankets exposes the surface of each blanket having the vapor barrier applied thereto when the blanket is rolled up for packaging. This is desirable in that the vapor barrier with its advertising material and installation instructions is exposed to the customer.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly the present invention comprises a packing station having a common packing area for a production line in which strips of material are being conveyed at two different levels. The strips of the lower BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view'illustrating a portion of a production line utilizing the inverting and reversing conveyor of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the inverting and reversing conveyor of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 is a side view schematically illustrating a production line 20 utilizing the method and apparatus of the present invention. The method and apparatus of the present invention are primarily intended for use in a fiber glass manufacturing operation wherein mats, batts or blankets of insulating material are produced. However, the method and apparatus of the present invention can be used in any manufacturing operation wherein flexible products in strip, ribbon, mat or blanket form are being conveyed on more than one level and where it is desirable to have a common packing area for the two levels.

FIG. 1 illustrates a blanket 22 of insulating material coming from a conventional felting operation or other source (not shown) wherein glass fibers or other filaments are felted into a blanket. The blanket 22 is carried by a conveyor 24 to a conventional cutter 26 (e.g., a band saw) which slices the blanket 22 across its entire width into blankets 28 and 30 of lesser thickness than the blanket 22. While the blankets 28 and 30 can be the same thickness, where required or desired the blankets 28 and 30 can be sliced from blanket 22 so that the blankets 28 and 30 differ in thickness.

From the cutter 26 the blanket 28 is carried by a conveyor 32 to a lower level 34 of the production line. There the blanket 28 is sliced longitudinally into a plurality of strips by a plurality of cutters 36 (e.g., rotary saws) which are spaced apart across the width of the blanket. Typically, a 7 /2 foot wide blanket is cut into six 15 inch wide strips.

In the lower level 34. a plurality of facing sheets 38 from a roll 40 are applied to the lower major surfaces of the strips formed from the blanket 28. The facing sheets 38 correspond in width to the strips and can be made of paper, foil or other suitable material. The facing sheets 38 forms vapor barriers for the insulating products produced in this operation. During their application to the strips, the sheets 38 pass from the roll 40 over an adhesive applicator roll 42 where a suitable adhesive such as an asphalt adhesive is applied to major faces of the sheets 38. After the adhesive is applied to the sheets, the sheets are trained about an idler roll 44 which brings the adhesively coated surfaces of the sheets 38 into contact with the lower surfaces of the strips formed from blanket 28. The strips with the sheets contacting their lower faces are then drawn between conveyor 44 and 46. The strips of insulating blanket and the sheets are sandwiched between the conveyors 44 and'46 which draw the sheets 38 off of the roll 40 and apply pressure to the strips and sheets to insure a good adhesive bond.

After the facing sheets have been applied to the strips of blanket, the composites formed are passed through a cutting station 50. The cutting station employs a conventional chopper 52 which is programmed to periodically cut the strips of blanket and facing sheets into strips of a desired length. After passing through the chopper station 50, the strips of blanket are then conveyed by a conveyor 54 to a conventional roll-up apparatus 56, e.g., a Bemis rollup machine. There the blanket is rolled up into a roll for packaging purposes. The conveyor 54 conveys the strips at a faster rate than conveyors 44 and 46 to separate the strips coming into the roll-up apparatus from succeeding strips.

The blanket material 30 is subjected to substantially the same process as blanket 28. The blanket 30 is carried by a conveyor 58 to an upper level 60. There the blanket is slit at a cutting station 62 wherein a plurality of conventional cutters 64 slit the blanket of insulating material longitudinally into a plurality of strips. After the blanket is slit into the longitudinal strips, facing sheets 66 are applied to the upper faces of the strips from a roll 68. As with the lower level 34 the facing sheets 66 have an adhesive applied thereto by an applicator roll 70. The sheets then pass about an idler roll 72 and into contact with the upper faces of the strips. The strips and sheets are then drawn between conveyors 74 and 76 where they are pressed together and firmly united. Once through the conveyors 74 and 76 the strips of insulating material, with the facing sheets adhered thereto, pass through a chopper station 78 where a conventional chopper 80 is programmed to chop the strips of insulation and the facing sheets into strips of material having a desired length. From the chopping station 78 the strips of material are carried by conveyors 82 and 84 to the inverting and reversing station 86. At the inverting and reversing station 86, the direction of travel of the strips is reversed and the strips are inverted so that the facing sheets 66 will be on the outside during the roll-up operation. From the inverting and reversing station 86, the strips are carried by a conveyor 88 to the packing station where another conventional roll-up device 90 is utilized to roll the strips of material up into a form suitable for packaging.

P10. 2 shows the preferred embodiment of the inverting and reversing station of the present invention. The inverting and reversing station 86 includes a drum 92 and a hugger belt assembly 94. The drum is cylindrical in shape and extends for at least the entire width of the blanket 30 of insulating material. An axle 96 of the drum is mounted in a pair of bearings 98 for rotation about a horizontal axis. The drum is driven by a motor 100 and through a conventional drive assembly 102.

The hugger belt assembly 94 comprises a conveyor belt 104 which can be wiremesh belt, a rubberized canvas belt or any one of numerous other conventional conveyor belts. The conveyor belt is trained about a series of idler rolls 106, 108 and 110 plus a take-up roll 112 and a drive roll 114. The drive roll 114 is located above the drum 92 and is driven through a conventional drive assembly 116 by a motor 118. The idler roll 106 is mounted beneath the drum 92 and is located such that a plane passing through the axis'of rotation of the idler roll 106 and drive roll 114 passes through the drum on a side of the axis of the drum opposite that about which the hugger belt 104 is wrapped. The takeup roll 112 is a weighted take-up roll that maintains a predetermined amount of tension on the belt. Since, in the direction of travel of the hugger belt 104, the weighted take-up roll 112 is between the drive roll 114 and the run of the hugger belt which cooperates with the drum to grip the strips, the take-up roll maintains a predetermined amount of tension of the portion of the belt engaging the strips. In this way, although sufficient pressure is exerted by the drum and the hugger belt to convey the strips through the arcuate path to resuch as to damage the insulating material.

The reversing and inverting station is provided with a slider plate 120 between the drum 92 and the conveyor 84. The slider plate 120 facilitates the transfer of the strips of insulating material from the conveyor 84 to the inverting and reversing station. As with the other components, the slide plate is mounted in a conventional manner on a frame not shown.

In operation, the strips of insulation are delivered from the conveyor 84 to the slider plate 120 which guides the strips onto the surface of the drum 92. The drum 92 carries the strips until they are sandwiched between the hugger belt 104 and the drum. The hugger belt and the drum then carry the strips through an arcuate path to the point where they are discharged onto the conveyor 88 which is the infeed to the roll-up machine 90. With this arrangement the strips on both levels have a common packing area with the strips so oriented that the facing sheets are exposed when the strips are rolled up.

What is claimed is:

1. In a production line where strips of material are traveling in the same direction at a lower level and an upper level, the improvement comprising:

a. a packing station having a common packing area for both levels,

b. means for conveying a first series of strips on the lower level to the packing station,

0. means for conveying a second series of strips on the upper level past the packing station,

d. means for reversing the direction of travel of and for inverting the second series of strips on the upper level once the second series of elongate strips are past packing station comprising cylindrical drum means, means for rotating the cylindrical drum, hugger belt means, the hugger belt means being trained about a roll located above the drum and a roll located below the drum, the rolls being located relative to the drum such that a plane passing through axes of rotation of the rolls passes through the drum to define a chord whereby portions of the hugger belt between the rolls cooperate with the drum to grip the strips therebetween, and means for driving the hugger belt so that the cooperating portions of the drum and hugger belt are moving in the same direction, and

means for conveying the second series of strips down to the packing station ata common level with the first series of strips introduced to the packing station from the lower level.

2. In a productionline as defined in claim 1, the improvement further comprising:

a. means for maintaining a predetermined tension in the hugger belt means. 

1. In a production line where strips of material are traveling in the same direction at a lower level and an upper level, the improvement comprising: a. a packing station having a common packing area for both levels, b. means for conveying a first series of strips on the lower level to the packing station, c. means for conveying a second series of strips on the upper level past the packing station, d. means for reversing the direction of travel of and for inverting the second series of strips on the upper level once the second series of elongate strips are past packing station comprising cylindrical drum means, means for rotating the cylindrical drum, hugger belt means, the hugger belt means being trained about a roll located above the drum and a roll located below the drum, the rolls being located relative to the drum such that a plane passing through axes of rotation of the rolls passes through the drum to define a chord whereby portions of the hugger belt between the rolls cooperate with the drum to grip the strips therebetween, and means for driving the hugger belt so that the cooperating portions of the drum and hugger belt are moving in the same direction, and e. means for conveying the second series of strips down to the packing station at a common level with the first series of strips introduced to the packing station from the lower level.
 2. In a production line as defined in claim 1, the improvement further comprising: a. means for maintaining a predetermined tension in the hugger belt means. 